


Swipe Right

by ereshai



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Dating, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Secret Identity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-19 19:13:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13130226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ereshai/pseuds/ereshai
Summary: Meeting new people is hard, even when you're a superhero.





	Swipe Right

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DizzyRedhead](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DizzyRedhead/gifts).



> My original idea got more complicated than I expected, so I decided last minute to write this as your gift instead. Happy holidays!

This was a bad idea.

Will picked up his phone and looked at the screen again. Left or right? The guy was handsome, sure, but he wasn’t really doing anything for Will.

Swipe left.

The next person, a woman, was just as good-looking, and Will was just as uninterested. Maybe he was over his blonde phase.

Swipe left.

Or maybe he was doing this for the wrong reasons.

“No hot date tonight?” he said mockingly. As if Supersonic thought he couldn’t possibly be dating anyone. Not Inspector Gadget. Not Mechamind. Not Techno-boy. None of which were Will’s Council-approved hero name, but they demonstrated exactly what his crime-fighting partner thought of him. Never mind that Will hated his hero name with a passion – Supersonic could at least do him the courtesy of using it.

If only there had been any other unpaired hero in the City when he’d moved there. Like Adamant. He had super-strength and was basically an impenetrable wall when it came to bullets or missiles or speeding trucks. But he and Earthquake (another obvious Council name, she literally created localized earthquakes) had a solid partnership, and if the tabloids were to be believed, a budding romance as well. Having seen the pair in action, Will thought it was true.

And that was another thing. Will didn’t know any of the other heroes well enough to learn their civilian identities, not even his own partner. Adamant had been enthusiastically friendly the few times they’d exchanged words, but that was as far as it had gone. Glacier had been as icy as his name, though his partner Sunspot had been warm enough to make up for it; either way, Will wasn’t pinning his hopes on getting to know them. He hadn’t even met the Dashing Duo – the Masked Atom and Songsmith – though he really wanted to; their one-liners were legendary and there was no way those names had the Council’s fingerprints anywhere near them. Will wanted to know how they’d done it.

Basically, he didn’t know anybody in the City. His civilian cover job kept him fairly isolated, and he’d never had much luck just randomly befriending people. Which brought him back to this stupid online dating app.

Was he really this desperate?

Will looked at the next potential match on his screen and his brain went off-line for a second, because staring up at him was the best looking man he’d ever set eyes on. This guy, Derek, was ‘there’s no way he really needs to use a dating app’ gorgeous.

No, Will wasn’t desperate, but he also wasn’t stupid.

Swipe right.

~                                            

Derek felt like kicking himself. He should have known better than to try to get to know his partner – dude was prickly as hell. No, not prickly. Full-on angry. Derek supposed he would be too if he’d been saddled with such a stupid hero name. Was the Council using a random name generator?

Not that any of Derek’s suggestions had been deemed acceptable. They just seemed to make his partner angrier (though Derek had to admit his most recent suggestions hadn’t been serious – he just wanted to see the sparks that danced along his partner’s skin when he got really riled up).

It was probably too much to hope for to have a partnership like Chris and Caitlin, or Adam and Justin, or even Jack and Bitty (and those two had hated each other at first). They’d get to a real-name basis eventually; probably after the six month period recommended by the Council. _Your professional relationship should be developed before the personal one_ , which Derek thought was a load of shit.

So here he was, all alone on a Friday night, off-shift, and no one to hang out with. Doing anything with his partner was obviously out of the question. Chris and Caitlin were on a date (secretly, so the Council wouldn’t find out about their relationship too soon), it was Adam and Justin’s turn on crimewatch, and Derek refused to insert himself in whatever Jack and Bitty had going on – they were eventually going to end up dead or in bed, and Derek didn’t need to witness either event. Even his non-powered friends were busy; Larissa was preparing for a big art show later in the month and Shitty was ‘helping’ her. They deserved a break from superhero bullshit, anyway – support crew always got the short end of the stick, if you asked Derek.

Derek had his phone in his hand and the dating app open in the blink of an eye – technology upgrades far beyond what the average citizen knew existed were about the only thing the Council was good for; a civilian phone couldn’t keep up with his speed. He was swiping left on photo after photo – he recognized far too many of these people and they were all a bunch of ‘no’s’ and ‘not tonight’s’ and in one case, ‘never again’.

An unfamiliar face caught his eye and he paused. A redhead, not conventionally handsome, but definitely not ugly. His ears stuck out, which was kinda cute.

Interesting.

Swipe right.

~

This was such a bad idea.

Will hadn’t actually expected anything to come of swiping right on Derek’s picture, but here they were in a nice neutral meeting spot – local coffee shop, points to Derek for suggesting it – making small talk. No awkward silences, which was a change from Will’s usual first dates.

He thought he’d figured out why Derek was using a dating app – the guy was clumsy. He’d tripped over nothing twice already and knocked over almost everything he’d reached for (thankfully not his coffee). It was almost endearing, but Will supposed people could get tired of it. The problem was, Derek was so laid back he was practically asleep, and Will wasn’t sure that’s what he was looking for.

To top it off, Derek seemed familiar. Really familiar. The line of his jaw, the way he would tilt his head when he was listening, the set of his shoulders… Will was wracking his brains, trying to figure out if they’d met before. Not work – Derek worked from home, freelancing for local newspapers and magazines, and Will was a floating IT lackey for several major companies. Maybe they’d passed each other in the street? Several times? Would that have been enough to make Will feel like he already knew him?

“How long have you lived in the City?” Derek asked. Will had already mentioned he had moved there recently.

“About three months. I’m still learning my way around, getting to know people.” Something he was really bad at; he’d been a private person even before gaining his powers and adding a whole new level of secrecy to his life. New relationships didn’t stand a chance.

Derek nodded. “I remember how that is.” He smiled, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes that made Will’s heart thump. “But hey, at least you have a hot date tonight.”

Hot date tonight. Will’s brain went off-line for the second time that night.

“Supersonic?” he whispered.

~

Derek hated spending a lot of time with civilians. In public. He felt like he was creeping along like a snail and he always ended up misjudging time and distance and then tripping or knocking things over. It was excruciating.

Talking with Will was fun, though. He needed a little prodding to come out of his shell, but Derek thought the effort was worth it. Too bad this couldn’t go anywhere. It was hard enough maintaining relationships with other hero-types – they at least understood when Derek couldn’t stay slow around them all the time, even when it eventually became too much for them. A civilian? Not a chance.

But a one-night thing… Yeah, or something super-casual. Derek was up for it if Will was. Or maybe Will could be part of the support crew. Tech always needed people who knew what they were doing.  That would make things easier if they went beyond casual. Although it could get awkward if they broke up-

He was going too fast, even for himself. _Stay in the now_.

Small talk. Stick to that. Something flirty. “At least you have a hot date tonight.”

Will froze. His eyes widened and his freckles stood out against his pale skin. “Supersonic?” he whispered.

Time stopped, then sped up. How could Will- If he- But that would mean-

“Circuit Breaker?” he whispered back.

Will glared. “Oh, now you use my name,” he whispered fiercely. “And in public, too. Thanks.”

“I never thought you were a redhead,” Derek said in a daze. “I should have known.”

“What’s that supposed to- Never mind. Not here.” Will stood up. “Is there somewhere private we can go?”

For once, Derek was having trouble keeping up, but he didn’t think Will meant that in a funtimes kind of way.

“Yeah.” He got up. _Stay slow_ , he reminded himself. “Follow me.”

~

This was such a fucking bad idea.

Being alone with Supersonic – Derek – was a mistake. Not because he couldn’t trust the guy – he absolutely did, despite working with him for a relatively short time. He was no supervillain in the making.

No, it was because the low-grade attraction he’d been feeling (and suppressing) for his partner now had a physical component and that was…

That was a problem. Because Super- Derek didn’t think much of him. As a superhero. Possibly as a person, although the date had been going well until Will had realized… Maybe he should have kept his mouth shut.

Derek led them to a narrow apartment building, hemmed in on both sides by other equally narrow buildings. As soon as they were in the elevator – just the two of them – Derek started bouncing on his heels, a habit Will recognized from many a night spent waiting with him on rooftops. Will had no idea how he had managed the laid-back act for so long; as Supersonic he was always humming with energy,

The apartment he let them into took up the whole top floor; there was a small antechamber, furnished like the set of some TV show about a group of twenty-somethings struggling to make it in the big city, living in an apartment they could never realistically afford on what their supposed jobs paid. Will was maybe a little bitter about his overpriced shoebox of an apartment.

There were several doors leading out of the room, all closed. Derek went to one, flipped open a security panel, and entered a code that he didn’t bother trying to hide from Will. The door swooshed open, revealing a large room full of equipment, some of it covered with sheets. A blank screen took up one whole wall.

“There’s another command center?” Will blurted.

“Yeah, this was the original site, before the upgrade. Now it’s backup. Some of us crash here after a long shift.” Derek looked at Will. “This should have been in your briefing packet, along with the security codes.”

Will shook his head. “My placement officer…”

“Shit, did you have Multi-Chad? A lot of newbies got screwed over when he and his nodes went off the hinge.”

Will shrugged. “Could have been worse.”

“It shouldn’t have happened in the first place.”

Will shrugged again. What else was there to say about it?

“Okay. We’re here. Time to get whatever you want to say off your chest.” Derek flopped into a rolling chair

Will looked at Derek and everything he’d been wanting to ask, to yell about really, left his mind completely. Except…

“Why don’t you like me?”

~

“Why don’t you like me?”

All of Derek’s half-formed thoughts screeched to a halt. “I like you just fine. More than fine. You don’t like me.”

“What? I don’t dislike you. I barely know you.” A series of sparks skittered through Will’s hair. Will closed his eyes and clenched his fists and the sparks fizzled out.

“And whose fault is that?” Derek carefully stayed seated. Will’s emotions were high – it would be too easy for this to escalate into something it didn’t need to be. “Every time I ask a simple question, like tonight, you get snappy with me.”

Will opened his mouth, then closed it again, looking thoughtful. “You weren’t making fun of me?”

“Of course not. Why would I do that?”

“And the names?” Will grabbed a nearby chair and pulled it around so he could sit down.

“It’s obvious you hate your hero name. Circuit Breaker? I don’t know what the Council is on with some of these names they pick out.” Derek let himself relax just a little.

“So those were all serious suggestions?”

“Maybe not all of them.” Derek grinned. “I stand behind Mechamind.”

Will snorted. “You know Megamind was a villain, right?”

“Ish. Villain-ish.”

“And fictional.” Will finally smiled.

“Which means variations aren’t already taken.”

Their eyes met and held. Will’s smile softened, and he looked away. “Anyway, the Council wouldn’t approve it.”

“You get enough journalists calling you something, the Council can’t do a thing about it.”

“Oh.”

And there it was, the first real awkward silence of the evening. Which reminded him…

“So. This isn’t the best first date, but it’s not the worst, right?”

Will’s eyes snapped up to meet his. “First? As in there might be a second?”

“I’m up for another try if you are.”

“Even though I’ve been kind of an asshole?”

Derek shrugged. “Not the whole time. Like I said, I like you.”

Will’s cheeks turned pink. So did the tips of his ears. “I like you too.”

Derek leaned forward and held out his hand. “Hey, I’m Derek Nurse, freelance journalist. Wanna go out sometime?”

Will took his hand. A spark jumped between them. “Sorry. Um, I’m William Poindexter, IT lackey. And I’d love to.”

**Author's Note:**

> I got this idea from a tumblr prompt I had randomly saved - “I’m the superhero’s sidekick and you’re the superhero, but I don’t know that and we both met on an online dating website and you look really familiar?” au  
> They're partners instead of superhero/sidekick, but I think it works :)
> 
> Also, I haven't used Tinder, so the dating app in this AU isn't Tinder, just Tinder-ish.


End file.
